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That was the plan anyway. The sophomore conceded that the hole boring might have to wait until next week.

The exercise is part of a senior design project involving Johnson, a civil engineering major, and four other students. They are developing some land in Alcoa for a business center, among other uses.

“Doing testing on site, doing some lab work to determine what the soil capacity is for some of the buildings,” Johnson said. “It’s a semester-long project we’re working on in conjunction with the University of Tennessee and an outside client.”

Tennessee’s football season, which continues next Saturday at Auburn, amounts to another sort of ongoing project. Johnson said the off week revolved around the Vols and overall improvement. And he believes that work is a mental undertaking more than a physical feat.

“You have to know what you’re doing, you have to know what the other guy is doing, you have to know what the whole offensive line is doing,” he said. “It doesn’t matter if you’re the most physical person in the world. If you’re going in the wrong direction, it doesn’t matter.”

Such guys are crucial to controlling the line of scrimmage, which has been a challenge to date for Tennessee.

Against Georgia, the Vols (2-3) generated more quarterback pressure but still were overwhelmed by the Bulldogs’ 251 rushing yards. The Vols were held to a season-low 66 yards rushing and were stopped on two third-and-1 plays.

Still, the 6-foot-6, 302-pound Johnson, a 2017 SEC Academic Honor Roll member, offered a scholarly defense for the importance of the mind game within the game as a means of correcting mistakes and enhancing performance.

“We’ve got strong guys on our team, we really do,” he said. “I think like always, football is more of a mental game than people give it credit for. It’s a big chess game.

“It’s almost like doing calculus. If you mess up the first step … you’re not going to get the last step right. Your problem is not going to be right if you mess up the simple algebra in the beginning. It doesn’t matter how well you know how to integrate, you’re going to screw up.”

Along with recruiting, Pruitt is more about blocking and tackling than integrating. But Johnson said Pruitt appreciates the instruction behind the collisions, and the Vols will be better for it.

“I think he takes it from a teacher’s perspective,” Johnson said. “I really respect that. He’s a great coach. He does really help everybody learn how to do their job. I really respect him for that. He’s truly a players’ coach.”